Packaging and using yarn



5.. J. ABBOTT PACKAGING AND USING YARN Feb. 4, 1947.

Filed May 9, 1944 Patented Feb. 4, 1947 mcmcmam usma man I v Edward J. Abbott, Wilton, N. 11., uslgnor to Abbott Machine Company, Wilton,

po'ration of New Hampshire N. E, a cor- Application May 9, 1944, Serial No. 534,793

.produces a very simple apparatus for forming yarn into packages suitable for direct use in various operations. Thus, the invention is applicable 'to forming yarn packages suitable to be dyed,

sized or subjected to other liquid treatment, or to serve as the supply for a knitting machine, a warper, or as a supply of yarn carried by the shuttle of a loom.

The invention is particularly applicable to the packageing of artificial yarns of the continuous filament type which are produced initially in the form of a cake, lacking the open formation or an:- gular crossing of the coils of yarn which is required for dyeing or other liquid treatment of the mass of yarn, or lacking the appropriate shape or formation of the yarn mass necessary for a package constituting the supply of the intended yarn-using machine. Thus applied, the invention provides a very simple and economical way of transferring the yarn from such a cake or other mass into a package suitable for subsequent handling, treatment and use.

Other objects of the invention and features of advantage will be apparent from this specification and its drawing wherein the invention is ex- 4 plained by way of example.

In the drawing:

Fig. 1 is a diagrammatic view in the nature of a side elevation partly in vertical section, showing an example of apparatus and method for forming a package of yarn according to this invention;

Fig. 2 is a similar view diagrammatically showing liquid-treating apparatus such as dyeing ap- Iparatus, with the package produced according to 13 Claims. (CI. 28-21) Referring to the drawing, a yarn Y is shown as being'withdraw'n in a running course from a mass l 0 of such yarn by cooperating rolls I I which are driven from any suitable source of power not shown, the yarn being led to these rolls ll through any suitable guide eyes. such, for instance, as shown at l2, l3, and the rolls ll being positioned to deliver the yarn Y downwardly into a tubular container l3. Transversely of the tubular container l3 there is provided a perforate diaphragm l4, and in the preferred form of the invention shown, the tubular container and the perforate diaphragm are removable as a unit from the remainder of the apparatus.

Thus, the tubular container and perforate diaphragm mayconstitute a canpformed of a suitable metal, or of paper, cardboard or other fibrous material which, if desired, may be suitably impregnated or chemically treated to render it resistant to any subsequent fluid treatment for which the yarn may be intended.

A current of air is conveyed downwardly through the tubular container I3 and its dia-' phragm H by suitable pneumatic means. As illustrated herein, the container l3 and diaphragm H are removably seated on the top of a housing l5 of which the interior is kept at a reduced pressure by means of a suction fan II- which may be driven by a suitable motor I8.

The yarn Y, delivered into the tubular container l3 by the rolls ll. tends to coil irregularly upon the perforate diaphragm I4, the coils, though irregular, each lying approximately in a horizontal plane transverse to the vertical axis of the container. As the mass of yarn builds up within the container, the differential between the higher air pressure at the upper free face of the yarn mass which is receiving the yarn, and the lower air pressure at the opposite bottom face of the mass on the perforate diaphragm, compacts the mass, drawing each new coil of yarn firmly onto the growing upper face of the mass. Moreover, the differential of air pressure attracts and directs the coiling yarn to the portions of the free surface of the forming mass at which the forming mass momentarily has less density or less thickness, thus automatically equalizing the density and thickness of the package as it builds up in the container.

The inner surfaces of the container l3 form lateral boundaries which confine the growing mass of yarn and thus define its shape. For a given length and diameter, the resulting package is of maximum capacity, consistent with a crossed formation of the coils of yarn, since both the top and bottom of the package are substantially flat and it has no central core.

In operation. the transfer of the yarn into the container, as described above, is continued until the free surface of the growing yarn package reaches the top of the container, and the rolls ii are then stopped but the suction fan II is continued running. The yarn Y is then broken, the end of-yarn leading to the mass of yarn in the container is passed through a hole I! in a suitable cap 2| (Fig. 3) for the container, from the inside of the cap outwardly, and this cap is then applied to the top of the container II, as indicated in Fig. 4. The container, including its bottom diaphragm and top cap and the yarn in the container, may then be removed bodily from the apparatus, the container then holding the yarn mass in the compacted state originally induced by the suction during formation of the package. The yarn of the resulting package is well protected against damage in shipment or handling. The yarn package is adapted to serve as a supply for a yarn-using machine, the size of the package and the ratio between the diameter and length being mad appropriate to the machine which is to contain or use the package.

Referring to Fig. 2, which shows diagrammatically the liquid treatment of a package, produced according to this invention, a cap 23, perforated similarly to the diaphragm I4, is applied instead of the cap II. The package may then be clamped between the opposed conduits 24 and 25 of the liquid treating apparatus, the dye liquid. sizing, or any other liquid to be applied to the yarn may be circulated through the conduits 24, 25 and the yarn of the package, by any suitable pump or impeller, such as indicated diagrammatically at 21. Likewise, after the liquid treatment, the yarn may be dried in the package by circulating air thcrethrough, either in the same apparatus or in similar apparatus.

sizing thus applied to the package tends to fix the package in th compacted state in which it was produced, while fluid treatment of the package has the advantage of tending to set the twist of the yarn and hence reduce any tendency to kink.

The term am is herein used in its ordinary commercial sense to denote a strand (whether of natural or artificial origin and whether the filamentary material of which it is composed is continuous or discontinuous) capable of being handled under tension short of breaking tension without essential change in its strand-like character, and an important distinction between a package of yarn and a web of felted or entangled or matted fibers is that the material of the yarn package is capable of removal from the package as yarn by merely being drawn off from the package. A web of felted or entangled or matted fibers, on the other hand, does not itself constitute a supply of yarn and its fibers still need to be integrated, as by condensing, attenuation, parallelization or like steps, accomplished by running the web through some further apparatus, in order to make a yarn.

I claim:

1. Method of forming a package of yarn, comprising delivering a running course of yarn to the place of formation of the package and causing said yarn to accumulate in sup rposed layers,

4 and during such accumulating of the yarn holding the newly arriving yarn against the growing surface of the package by suction.

2. Method of forming a package-of yarn, comprising applying suction to the body of the package and delivering a running course of yarn to the surface of the package, causing said yarn toaccumulate in superposed layers under the influence of said suction.

3. Method of forming a package of yarn, comprising establishing an air current through a perforate member and delivering a running course of-yarn to the surface of said member from which the current of air flows therethrough.

causing the yarn to build up in a mass on said surface.

4. Method of forming a package of yarn, comprising maintaining a pressure differential between opposite surfaces of a mass of the yarn and delivering a running course of the yarn to the one of said surfaces at which the pressure is higher.

5. Method of forming a package of yarn, comprising conflning the growing mass of yarn between lateral boundaries which deflne its shape, delivering a running course of the yarn to a free surface of the mass of yarn within said boundaries, and maintaining a pressure differential between said free surface and a surface of the yarn mass longitudinally opposite thereto, with the pressure higher at said free surface.

-6. Method of forming a package of yarn, comprising maintaining an air current longitudinally in a container having a transverse, perforate diaphragm and delivering a running course of the yarn into said current in advance of said diaphrflg causing the running course of yarn to be deposited as a yarn mass on said diaphragm.

7. Method of forming a package of yarn, comprising depositing a running course of the yam in coils on a free approximately plane surface of the package and simultaneously compacting the package by suction applied to the opposite surface of the package.

8. Apparatus for forming a package of yarn,

. comprising a perforate member, means for conveying a current of air through said member, and means for delivering a. running course of yarn to the surface of said member from which the air current enters.

9. Apparatus for forming a package of yarn, comprising a perforate diaphargm, means for conveying air through the diaphragm, means for delivering a running course of yarn to the face of the diaphragm from which the air flows therethrough, and means for laterally confining the mass of yarn as the latter is built up upon said face.

10. Apparatus for forming a package of yarn, comprising a tubular container, a perforate diaphragm disposed transversely of the container, I

build up into a mass on the inner face of said diaphragm.

12. Method of forming a package of yarn, comprising maintaining a pressure differential between opposite surfaces of a mass of the yarn, delivering a running course of the yarn to the one' of said surfaces at which the pressure is higher, thereby inducing a compacted state of the yarn package, causing sizing to flow through the compacted package, and drying the package.

13. Method of forming a package of yarn comprising depositing a runnin course of the yarn in coils on a free approximately plane surface of the package and simultaneously compacting the package by suction applied to the opposite surface of the package, and closing the package against expansion in the direction of growth of the package.

EDWARD J. ABBUII'.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent: 

